St John’s Preparatory School

St John’s Preparatory School 7 April 2011

Houghton
Tel: 011 645 3100/ 087 550473 Newsletter Number 4

From the Headmaster… Reminders from the

Introduction
Diary
When I take a penalty kick it is 95% mental,
5% technique.
Gianfranco Zola (Italy and Chelsea footballer)
08/04 Final Assembly - Reports go home
As a nation, we are all still battling to come to 11h00 Break up for Easter Holidays
terms with the self-destruction of the Proteas’ St Stithians 1st XV Rugby Festival
batting against New Zealand - it was incredible
to witness firsthand (albeit from the comfort of
an armchair!) just how important the mental
aspect of sport is and how destiny can change at Even if deep down we are
a moment’s whim. It seems that the ‘fear of disappointed, we must never show
failure’ was just too much for the Proteas to that same disappointment to our
handle and it certainly carries an important boys, as then when the next
lesson for us all. Until we are able to confront challenge arises, they immediately
our fears and conquer them, we are unlikely to have a fear of disappointing mum,
reach our full potential in life. This does not onlydad, teacher or coach. What we need
apply to sport, but to all facets of our lives. to do is to make our boys
understand that it’s okay to fail, as
The common theme which links all fears is a
long as they know they have tried
fear of rejection, disapproval, failure and, rather
their best and they learn from the
more commonly than one might think, a fear of
experience.
success.
The underlying fear behind all these emotions is The biggest hindrance to success is
the simple fear of not being able to deal with anxiety. Whether it is in the
possible consequences - of not being able to classroom or on the sports field; if a
cope with the rejection, with the disapproval, boy is anxious, his performance will
with the failure or with the pressure and be stunted. So as teachers and
spotlight that comes with success. It is that fear parents, it is our job to ensure our
of not being able to cope which is the fundamen- boys are as comfortable within them-
tal fear which affects us all. selves as possible in whatever they
do, and that they know that the
How do we as teachers and parents prepare
outcome is not important; it’s the
our boys to conquer their fears?
process that counts.
As I mentioned in my last newsletter, boys are
naturally competitive and need tough challenges
and more often than not, they will overcome
these challenges and succeed. However, our role
as parents and teachers is to help our boys cope
when they do not succeed, and also not to put
undue pressure on them when they do. We need
to let them know that if they give of their best,
that’s all that matters.
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Remember this:
If you have a challenge and don’t try it for fear of failure, you’ve just given someone
else the chance to try it instead - and someone else will.

Thomas Edison is often credited with the invention of the light bulb in 1878, but the
truth is that the light bulb was actually invented decades earlier. In 1802, Sir
Humphrey Davy discovered that electricity could make a thin strip of platinum glow
and give off light, but because platinum was so expensive, he didn’t develop the idea
much further. In 1840, James Bowman Lindsay put a platinum filament into a glass
bulb and removed most of the air so that the filament wouldn’t oxidize, and thus the
first working light bulb was created. But again, the expense of platinum prevented
him from producing the bulb commercially.

Edison came along more than 30 years later, bought the previous patents, and
experimented with thousands of different materials for filaments that could be
commercially produced, eventually developing a filament from carbonized bamboo
that would last for 1200 hours. He didn’t stop there - Edison went on to design an
electric power distribution system that would make the use of light bulbs practical
and profitable. One could argue that all but one of Edison’s attempts to perfect the
electric light bulb was a failure. Edison considered each failed filament to be an im-
portant lesson - he had learned yet another material that would not work. But
perhaps more importantly, he didn’t let the road blocks that others had met
deter him.
Doug Heacock

Don’t treat failures as dead ends, but rather as learning experiences which may
take you on other routes and paths. The saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, try,
try again,” might be a very old saying, but you have to admit, it gives great advice.

“You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For
remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.”
Dale Carnegie

So, in conclusion, I hope that you all have a wonderful and safe holiday with your
families and a blessed Easter break. I look forward to seeing you all at the start of
the Trinity Term, refreshed, fearless and ready to tackle any challenge that comes
along.

Patrick Lees
Headmaster
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Reports and weightings of marks

Many thanks to all our parents who filled out the report questionnaire on the
Communicator link at the beginning of this month. We had a very pleasing response,
and the information gleaned from the ratings as well as from the comments was
encouraging and useful.

The following points were clear in analysing the results:

• Most parents (144 out of 157 respondents) agree that the current report gives
them all the information they need to find out about their son’s progress.
• Virtually all parents (153) agree that percentages are important on reports.
Most agree that they prefer these marks to symbols.
• The learning outcomes, effort ratings and fixed comments are useful, but
parents (135) value the teacher’s personal comment about their son most
highly.
• Feelings were mixed about the need for an electronic report, with 88 parents in
favour, and 70 parents preferring a hard copy of the report. However, many
respondents acknowledged the need to save paper and “go green”, even though
they like having a hard copy of the reports.
Reports for this term will remain unchanged. We are currently working with our
report designer at Pencilbox to create a new condensed format for our reports that we
will be able to email to parents. Some modifications will need to be made to the
structure of our reports to facilitate this change next term.

Weightings

In response to several queries about the weightings of marks, the information on the
following page may be useful. We have weighted our marks to factor in the changes in
time allocation for core subjects in the curriculum this year:

 
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LII and UII Subject weightings

Subject Terms 1, 2 and 3

English, Mathematics 150 per subject
Afrikaans, isiZulu 100 per subject
History, Science, Geography termly 100 per subject for that term
modules In calculating the year mark, each of
these three modules will count
33.33.

IT, Music/Class Music, Drama, Art, 50 per subject

D&T

LIII and UIII Subject weightings

 
Subject LIII UIII
  English, Mathematics 150 per subject 150 per subject
Afrikaans, isiZulu, History, Science, 100 per subject 100 per subject
  Geography
IT, Music/Class music 50 per subject 50 per subject
  Drama, Art, D&T 50 per subject 25 per subject
EMS (U3 only) N/A 25
 
Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me. A copy of the full
report questionnaire results is also available in my office for perusal.

Kind regards,

Margot Long Patrick Lees

Deputy Head - Academics Headmaster

Office: 011-6453122 Office: 011-6453115

longma@stjohnscollege.co.za lees@stjohnscollege.co.za

 
 Page 5 St John’s Preparatory School

4CTea
16th March
Emn Yilmaz - Smooth transition into St John’s
Kirva Govender - Kindness and consideration
Josh Kapp - Kindness and consideration
Ekow Daniels - Perfect spelling and dictation
Max Milella 100% Maths Assessment
Joel Sheffer - 100% Maths Assessment
Oliver De Sousa - Read 50 ‘Silent Reading’ books
Kgotso Bogoshi- Perseverance and enthusiasm on camp
Cooperative behaviour and conscientious work:
Ntsika Mtshali
Dyland January
Hansin Prema
Sutin Karan
Ntokozo Dlamini
Helping Chess Captains: Inter-Schools Golf:
Ramaano Ramokgopa Kian Rose
Li-An Pan Bradley Dunbar
Matthew Berger
Sahil Harrypershad
29th March
Brandon Badenhorst - ‘Defending a friend’
Excellent work and determination
Matthew Chow Kian Rose
Matteo Paparella Michael Gerard - Excellent Spelling
30th March
Won both Chess Matches 30th March

Sachin Modi Cricket - Michael Boyce - got 5 wickets

Matthew Berger Jack Gnodde - 97% for isiZulu

Brendan Thomas Farai Thodland - 97% for isiZulu

Nicholas Forbes
James Arthur
Kavish Govind
Adrian Ionescu
Nicholas Papadikis
Matthew Bester
 Page 6 St John’s Preparatory School

Individual Achievements

Brandon MacKenzie, UIIIC, competed in the

SA Regional Swimming Championships, well
done Brandon!

KWF Central Gauteng Regional
Karate Championships
Christopher Ching, won silver for
Kata and bronze for Kumite.
Nicholas Ching, won silver for Kata
and gold for Kumite. Well done,
boys!
Tristan Butler won two medals at the
BMX, SA Championships.
Well done, Tristan
LII Karate Grading
Tariq Seedat- Purple Belt
Brandon Badenhorst - Red 1. Well done, boys!

Prestige Athletics
On Wednesday the A and B Athletics Teams from St John’s took part in the Annual
Prestige Athletics Meeting at St Stithians. The boys competed against athletes from
St Stithians, St Peter’s, St Benedict’s, St David’s, WHPS, The Ridge and Pridwin.
The following boys achieved a top three place:
In the A Event:
A O’Hanlon 2nd Place U11 Shot Put
Z Manaway 1st Place U10 Shot Put
N Hallendorff 1st Place Open High Jump
G McPherson 2nd Place U11 800m
B Vermeulen 3rd Place U11 150m
In the B Event:
T McKernan 1st Place U12 Long Jump
M Berger 3rd Place Open 70m Hurdles
K Motsepe 1st Place U9 100m
K Motsepe 1st Place U9 150m
M Masiianoga 3rd Place Open 200m
Well done to these boys and to all of the boys who represented St John’s so well!
 Page 7 St John’s Preparatory School

Lower IIT
Natural Sciences
What animals like to eat and how they go about finding their food

By Jack Montgomery By Hansin Prema

English
Word Bricks

By Huzaifah Masood By Patrick Richardson

By Dylan January
 Page 8 St John’s Preparatory School

Lower IIT

By Oliver de Sousa By Brandon Badenhorst

18th March 2011 Introducing Joel Shefer

I am 9 years old and it is 29 days to my birthday. I was born in Johannesburg. The
biggest family on the earth is my family. In my family there are 8 kids including brother
in law and niece. Not all of my family live in my house some of them have moved and
one has kind of moved he is living in the house next to mine. My family has so many
pets some of them I don’t even know their names but the ones I know are first the dogs
Sock, Budy, Shorty, Butchie, Sasha, Stanky, Lulu and Fluffypants. Now for the cats.
Smeigel, Chloe and Binx. Now the monkeys, George and Susie.

My hobbies are doing random things like in UIL we talked about bugs and while my
teacher was talking and she said something about tarantulas and then I shouted out
TARANTULA!!! I also like playing playstaion 3 and playing with friends. Another hobby
of mine is playing with my dog Sock. His name is Sock because he has three white legs
and one brown leg. I play fetch with him and I also play other games with him .

The school I go to is St John’s the subjects I like are silent reading, Zulu, Mathletics
and readers are leaders. What I don’t like at school is Drama, HSS, Afrikaans and
research skills. My friends are Rian Sadler, Jack M, Jack L, Jack S, Ntsika, Dylan J
and Dino. My favorite sports are basketball, soccer and rugby.

When I grow up I want to be a famous basketball player. My mum was a professional

player and that is my passion. The position I play is a runner. I am in the Junior A
team and sometimes I play for the Senior B team.
By Joel Shefer
 Page 9 St John’s Preparatory School

Lower IIT

Introducing Matthew Gouveia

Hi my name is Matthew I am nine years old. I have three dogs and two love birds.
My three dogs names are Mihlo, Butterscotch and Scully, they are fun to play with.
Mihlo is a Golden Retreiver. Sally and Butter come from the SPCA so we don’t
know what breed they are. So let me tell you a little about myself. I have blue
eyes and blond hair. I live with my mum and dad a brother plus a sister. It’s a
mad family but it’s a nice family. I live in Mount Pellen Drive. My house is grey
and it is big. I have two pools. I have lots of fun at home.

I play cricket in my free time, sometimes I go and play with my ball swing if you
are wondering what a ball swing is it is a cricket ball that is tied onto some string
and then you tie it onto the tree and it will swing back. Sometimes my whole family
plays. We have such fun, me bowling at my mom. We still play cricket together
once my dad got hit somewhere you don’t want to know. Sometimes my dad will
cry and then he would say I ate too much and then I would beg for him to come
and play.

My school is St John’s college. I love my school. I play cricket, it is my favorite

sport. I play cricket every Saturday. My favorite school subject is English, I love
to write stories. It is weird because I don’t really like reading, I don’t like maths
because I get a bit confused but it’s kind of fun. My friends are Oliver, Nick, Brad
and Kirby. They are the best friends a boy could every have. They are funny, they
are cool. I like them a lot I also have a friend in Roedean her name is Jessie.

When I grow up I want to be a cricket player because I love the sport also I want to
be an author because I just love writing fiction stories.
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Photo gallery - Upper II Camp

After the hike Above the abseil

Building a dam Building shelters

All together
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Campfire

Abseiling

In the Kloof
Fun on the slides

Sleeping out
Telling stories with spoor
 Page 12 St John’s Preparatory School

Just One Bag

The “Just one Bag” initiative was inspired by the concerns of Jordan Van Der Walt, an
Upper II pupil at St John’s Prep, regarding other less privileged children’s ability to
attend school and excel if they do not have sufficient food. He proposed this initiative to
the school and it has been taken on as a community service project which is hosted by
the school, every year during the first term. The collection for this cause has been very
successful thus far and a number of worthy charities have benefitted, which is very
rewarding.

Jordan Van Der Walt with 94.7

presenters Darren Simpson and Sam Cowen

Mielie Meal arriving at St John’s

Page 13 St John’s Preparatory School

This is where ‘Just one Bag’ is helping the community

Drop off to TLC on Wednesday, 6th April 2011
 Page 14 St John’s Preparatory School

Rhino Force
Our rhino populations in South Africa are facing the
biggest threat ever. The rhino numbers in the rest of
Africa have declined to such an extent that South
Africa holds about 93% of the African populations of
white rhino, and an estimated 30% of all black rhino.
We are losing one rhino every one and a half days.
Our objectives are to raise significant funds direct
from the public through the sale of one Million
Bracelets. The proceeds from each bracelet go towards
fighting rhino poaching and job creation through a
non profit BEE Accredited Trust managed by South
Africans’ to ensure that the maximum amount of
funds raised go directly and swiftly to effect immediate
action, and halt the slaughter of our national heritage,
and preserve it for generations to come. The RHINO
FORCE Initiative is not just a bracelet. It is a lifeline.
The success of Afrika Expeditionary Force United
Against Malaria Campaign proved that a personal
pledge would mobilize and engage South African’s of
all ages to encourage support and urgency for this
project and highlight the plight of the rhino.
Oliver Tambo UIIIJ

THE CALL TO ACTION ONE WAR WE CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE

This Rhino campaign has brought together immense support from the corporate sector,
captains of industry and highly recognizable passionate and authentic professionals
from all business and entertainment sectors, such as Khan of the Parletones and Ed
Jordan whose soundtrack “Beautiful Creatures” will be the voice of RHINO FORCE and
it’s campaign anthem. It is available as a CD banded with the Rhino Wars Bracelet to
promote additional sales.
In addition the campaign will be driven during the duration of the Cricket World Cup
through the endorsement of Jonty Rhodes. 10% of direct sales of the 100 % Pure
Protea Cricket Supporters T Shirt will be donated to the Trust. Wildlife film producer
and director Peter Lamberti endorsed RHINO FORCE by pledging the soon to be
released documentary Rhino Wars.
 Page 15 St John’s Preparatory School

Vintage Clothing
Vintage clothing Collections
collections 20112011
It's time to clear your clutter and cupboards during the April holidays!

We will be supplying you with a ‘White bag” before the upcoming holiday.

Please would you fill it with unwanted items, of good enough quality ready to be resold
.….. clothes, shoes, bags, linen, curtains, leather goods, soft toys, belts, etc…no sharp
objects!!

Your unwanted items will be distributed (around the country) to second hand shops
that sell these items at a very nominal price to poorer communities - so please, totally
unwearable items of clothing!

Please drop your 'full white bags', clearly labeled to Mrs Taylor’s office by 27 May. As
we pay for each bag supplied to us, we request that you please return each bag, even
if they are not filled to the brim or are unused. If however you are ready for a great
spring clean, more bags can be collected from Mrs. Taylor's office!

Thanking you for your contributions and valued support.

The Class Mums of Upper III

St John’s College Shop

New opening times:
Monday & Thursday 7am to 3pm
Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 10am to 3pm
 Stationery and Labels as well as all your sports clothes, jerseys, bags and
socks
 Page 16 St John’s Preparatory School

Upper II The Stig Visits St John’s

The PCR Stig paid an unofficial, off-the-record, visit

to the St John’s College Upper II on Friday 18
March, along with members of Etana – an official
sponsor of this year’s Top Gear Festival.

Dressed in his Etana-branded racing suit, the PCR

Stig made his way around the corridors of St John’s
before surprising the Upper II learners in the mid-
dle of their morning lessons. He stopped off at three
classrooms, shaking hands, handing out stickers,
signing autographs and posing for photographs
with the thrilled St John’s learners.

The excitement in each classroom was evident as

soon as PCR Stig walked through the door and,
before long, the upper II learners were reciting their
favourite Top Gear quotes, having a giggle as the
silent racing driver wrote his goodbyes and ‘no
homework today’ on the whiteboard and decorating
their Maths books with Top Gear stickers.

Upper II student, Takudzwa Kudzurunga, who was

particularly excited to meet “The Stig” at his school,
said, “I’ve been watching him on TV since I was eight.
He’s really cool.”

Another boy, Mike Ontong, loves the Stig because he’s

a racing car driver. “I watch all his shows. He’s really
fast,” he enthused.

Michelle Fehrsen, one of the Upper II teachers at St

John’s, was just as excited as her class to meet the
PCR Stig. “This is just awesome. The boys love the Stig
and I’m a huge fan. I’ve even included Top Gear in
some of my lessons, so it’s great to have the Stig
visiting us today,” she said.
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St John’s Preparatory School

Starting on Saturday 2 April 2011 the Gauteng Schools Water Polo Committee has de-
cided to start a training squad to help develop the U13, U12, U11 and U10 boys’ and
girls’ water polo skills. The training will continue throughout winter, twice per week,
depending on demand. The purpose of this training squad is to develop our junior boys
and girls within the province. We have seen a trend over the years, in which our junior
teams struggle to cope with the stronger coastal schools. These clinics will focus on
improving a player’s swimming ability, ball skills, positioning in the pool and under-
standing of the game. We will commence this weekend and see how many players we
have interested, and then we will decide whether to continue throughout the holidays.
We will use current South African water polo players and a professional swimming
coach to assist with these training sessions.

These clinics are open to ALL Prep/Junior school boys and girls. Each session will cost
R30 (R250 a month for 8 sessions). This will cover the cost of the SA Players, the
swimming coach and usage of the pool and equipment. Please e-mail me for any
additional information with regard to these training squads.

First Invitational Squad Training:

DATE: Saturday 2nd April

TIME: 14h00 to 16h00

VENUE: St. John’s College

COST: R30

All first team coaches and assistant coaches of the first team are welcome to attend to
work with and learn from the SA Players.

Regards Pierre Le Roux

Development Portfolio, Gauteng Schools Water Polo

Gauteng Schools Water Polo Executive Committee

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St John’s Preparatory School
Page 19
St John’s Preparatory School

In the run up to the cricket world

cup, the St John’s College Shop is
offering a collector's pack of the Fan
Can Protea’s puzzles at a greatly
reduced price. The collectors pack
has four fan cans each containing a
252 piece high quality A3 size
jigsaw puzzle that is licensed by
Cricket South Africa. This is a great
opportunity to build puzzles of
Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis,
AB de Villiers and JP Duminy.

Each collectors pack costs just R100 and is purchased directly from
the school shop or via email orders to shop@stjohnscollege.co.za.
 Page 20 St John’s Preparatory School

Notices

Art club and extra classes

From the beginning of next term, Mr Poco is starting an Art Club (for LIII and UIII boys) and extra art classes for junior
boys. Senior boys are encouraged to join the Art Club on Tuesdays from 14h00 -15h00 or Thursdays from 15h00-
16h00. Juniors may arrange extra art lessons with Mr Poco at alternative times and on alternative days.

We hope to see the senior boys joining the Art Club to create various exciting art works with mediums they do not
normally use in class, such as print making, photography, oil painting and many more. This will be a fantastic opportunity
for any boy who wishes to develop his art skills.
For further information e-mail Bruno Poco on poco@stjohnscollege.co.za

EXTRA ZULU Extra Math Lessons

LESSONS Individual tuition offered
Lower III and Upper III boys.
Mrs M Hauptfleisch
Every Thursday 13h45 Call 011 442 1854
Upper III Mrs Mashele 083 256 7714
All Welcome

Italian Hair Dee-Lite 082 462 6813/

Language 011 648 6367
Lessons Dee offers excellent work for the whole family,
Small age appropriate classes and individual tuition competitive prices and the added
offered outside school hours at St John’s.
convenience of being on campus.
Experienced mother-tongue graduate teacher using
communicative method of conversation, maintaining Modern cuts, colours (from R300) and hi-lites.
cultural ties for solid IEB foundation.
Kids R50
Contact Lisabetta on 082 682 2859 or
7 Elm Street (Opposite Rice Field)
Lisabetta@iafrica.com
Open Tuesday to Friday
08h00 - 17h00
Saturday 08h00 - 13h00

EXTRA MATHS
LESSONS
Lower III & Upper III boys in Mrs Jean Clarence’s
classroom
Every Thursday 13h45 All Welcome
Page 21 St John’s Preparatory School

If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again

If I had my child to raise all over again,

I'd finger paint more, and point the finger less.
I'd do less correcting, and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I would care to know less, and know to care more.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging, and less tugging.
I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
I'd build self esteem first, and the house later.
I'd teach less about the love of power,
And more about the power of love.

Author: Diane Loomans